Ayodhya Dispute: Five-Judge Constitution Bench To Begin Hearing From Jan 10 [Read Notice]

A five-judge Constitution Bench comprising of Chief Justice of IndiaRanjan Gogoi and JusticesS.A. Bobde, N.V. Ramana, U.U. Lalit and D.Y. Chandrachud will hear the Ayodhya land dispute case from January 10, 2019.

The move comes as a surprise considering earlier on September 27, 2018, the apex court Bench comprising of then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Justice Ashok Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer by 2:1 majority had declined to refer to a five-judge Constitution Bench the issue of reconsideration of the observations made in 1994 judgment of Ismail Faruqui v. Union of India that a mosque was not integral to Islam which had arisen during the hearing of the Ayodhya land dispute.

On October 29, 2018, a three-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi with Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K.M. Joseph had adjourned the hearing in the first week of January before an appropriate bench, to decide the schedule of hearing.

Thereafter, on January 4, 2019, the Bench deferred the hearing till January 10, 2019, stating that a special Bench will be constituted to pass further orders in the Ayodhya land dispute case.